BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.7//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:2@researchweek.unc.edu DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261022T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261022T163000 DTSTAMP:20261009T144604Z URL:https://researchweek.unc.edu/events/pare-awards-2026/ SUMMARY:PARE Awards Ceremony DESCRIPTION:Join us as we celebrate the recipients of the 2026 Postdoctoral Awards for Research Excellence (PARE). This ceremony recognizes five outs tanding UNC-Chapel Hill postdoctoral scholars whose exceptional achievemen ts in research\, leadership\, mentoring\, teaching\, advocacy\, and servic e have made a significant impact on the University and the broader researc h community. Winners to be announced soon.\n\nThis is an in-person event.\ n\nClick Here to Register\n\n2026 PARE Winners:\nAthena Stein\, Department of Psychiatry\, School of Medicine \;\n\n\n\n“My research is redefi ning how brain stimulation is designed. Rather than imposing generic\, syn thetic waveforms conventionally used\, I develop personalized neurostimula tion interventions using an individual’s actual (endogenous) brain activ ity. I invented transcranial endogenous current stimulation and am current ly testing its neurophysiological mechanisms and preliminary efficacy in a clinical trial in antenatal depression. At the same time\, I am translati ng this framework into other brain stimulation modalities such as transcra nial magnetic stimulation. My long-term goal is to understand the brain bi omarkers underlying neurostimulation response in depression and other psyc hiatric disorders\, and to establish endogenous neurostimulation as a new precision-treatment paradigm for these disorders.” \;\n\n\n\nEvan Pa ules\, Nutrition Research Institute \;\n\n\n\n“I am focused on advan cing precision nutrition. Diets and weight-loss drugs work well for some p eople and barely at all for others\, and we cannot currently tell in advan ce who will not benefit from a given therapy. I study how the nutrients we eat\, particularly choline\, shape metabolic health\, and I build metabol ic profiles that identify whether a given treatment will work for someone. My goal is to turn nutrient status into a simple test that tells clinicia ns which treatment will help a patient\, and to determine whether repletin g certain nutrients can move people who do not benefit into the group that does.” \;\n\n\n\nGrigory Terlov\, Department of Statistics and Oper ations Research\, College of Arts and Sciences \;\n\n\n\n“My researc h lies in probability theory and its connections with other branches of ma thematics and applied sciences. This work has two main threads: quantitati ve limit theorems\, typically via Stein’s method\, in random graph model s and random optimization problems\; and percolation on transitive graphs\ , especially in relation to measured group theory and measurable combinato rics. A common thread throughout my work is understanding how geometric an d structural notions interact with randomness.” \; \;\n\n\n\nHyu nji (Amy) Lee\, Department of Computer Science\, College of Arts and Scien ces \;\n\n\n\n“My research aims to build AI systems that can keep le arning and adapting after they are deployed\, rather than remaining fixed as the world\, their users\, and available information change. I study and develop how these systems can learn from real-world deployment by collect ing and filtering experience into useful training and evaluation data\, me thods that help models recognize what they know and when to adapt\, and sy stems that coordinate knowledge across models\, memories\, tools\, and oth er agents. Ultimately\, I want to create long-lived AI systems that remain useful\, reliable\, and coherent as they learn from ongoing interactions and changing environments.” \;\n\n\n\nKuan-Yi Lu\, Department of Mic robiology and Immunology\, School of Medicine \;\n\n\n\n“Why do anti biotics sometimes fail\, even when drug concentrations far exceed the thre shold normally required to clear an infection? My postdoctoral research at UNC-Chapel Hill has focused on solving the fundamental challenge of the s ystematic failure of antibiotics to eradicate infections within the body. Supported by a highly competitive NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Awar d\, my research integrates biology\, chemical analysis\, and animal modeli ng to identify why bacteria tolerate antibiotics during infections.”&nbs p\; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://researchweek.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/ 2026/08/010318_campus_scenes026.jpg CATEGORIES:In-person Event,Office of Postdoctoral Affairs,UNC Research LOCATION:Toy Lounge\, 135 South Road\, Chapel Hill\, NC\, 27516\, United St ates X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=135 South Road\, Chapel Hil l\, NC\, 27516\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Toy Lounge:geo:0 ,0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260308T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR